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Thursday 4 June 2015

FCBD 2015: Secret Wars #0 Review (Jonathan Hickman, Hajime Isayama)


What do you do when the ship starts sinking? Head to a life raft! And that’s what Valeria Richards, Reed and Sue’s pre-teen mega-genius daughter, builds, along with the rest of the Future Foundation. Why? The Marvel Universe - including the Ultimates Universe - is coming to an end in Secret Wars! 

Secret Wars isn’t so much a standalone event comic as it is the final chapter in Jonathan Hickman’s years-long saga that began in the pages of his Fantastic Four run. He’s built up to it in his Marvel NOW! Avengers and New Avengers titles and, finally, this is the end (my only friend the… HULK SMASH PUNY DOORS MUSIC!). 

This Free Comic Book Day issue, Secret Wars #0, is basically Valeria recapping some of what’s happened in Avengers and New Avengers, namely the Illuminati trying to save worlds and then resorting to blowing up worlds and… well, now doom. Thanks, eggheads! 

I’ve only read the first two volumes of both Hickman’s Avengers titles but even I could tell Valeria’s monologue only scrapes the surface of this very complicated story. Hickman’s Avengers books have been nothing if not DENSE so even though she tries, bless her, Valeria really didn’t stand a chance of covering all the plot points in 9 pages! 

The other story in this issue is Attack on Avengers, the crossover between the Avengers and Hajime Isayama’s bestselling manga series, Attack on Titan. I say “story” but it’s really just a few scenes of the Avengers punching the Titans - and that’s it! Can’t say I’m a fan of Attack on Titan, I read that first book and thought it was complete garbage, but it’s a fun crossover and ends the comic on a light note. 

I wouldn’t say Secret Wars #0 is a great primer for the event but then no single issue was ever going to cover the kind of ground Hickman’s been cultivating for the last few years! As a free comic though, it’s fine for what it is. 

If you missed this issue on Free Comic Book Day a month ago, it’s available for free download over at Comixology here:https://www.comixology.com/FCBD-2015-...

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